Sure. I presume that the Care Inspectorate pointed to those services not being included in the Feeley report. Kevin, will you comment on that?

I will pick up on Dr Meechan’s point about what is said in the bill and in the policy memorandum. Concerns have been raised that much of this will be dealt with in secondary legislation and that the bill does not provide clarity on what process will be used to gather the data and develop the platform. Dr Meechan referred to the enormous amount of data that would have to be managed.

Do the witnesses have concerns about the issue being dealt with in secondary legislation?

I will explore the notion of social work being within the scope of the NCS. That was not included in the Feeley report. What are your thoughts on why it was not? What is the potential impact of transferring those services into the national care service?

I will start with Suzanne McGuinness, if that is possible.

Yes. I am going to come on to talk about what a separation might look like. However, if, as envisaged, we were to transfer criminal justice services, for example, what impact do you think that would have?

I want to return to the point about the fragmentation of the social work profession. We have heard, and I hear, from social workers a real concern that, if we take social workers out of the local authority context, we will run the risk, particularly in children and family services, that there will be a real disconnect from education, which has a role within child protection as well, and that the link with teams around the child will be lost. Do people recognise that that is a significant risk?

Is the timescale realistic? I think that the intention is that the national care service should exist by the end of the parliamentary session. We have heard that there are big challenges with being able to deliver it, not least around whether the data is available, what the infrastructure will look like and how we will upskill people.

My question has two parts. First, is the timescale for implementation realistic? Secondly, are there concerns about the cost? I heard that being mentioned. We will come on to questions about finance, but are there concerns about how much delivery could cost? Beth Lawton, could you answer that?

Good morning to the panel members. I want to focus on the idea of having a single electronic record for health and social care. That has come up time and again, not only in our scrutiny of the bill but more broadly in our work, including in many of our inquiries. Many people feel that having a single record is important, particularly so that people do not have to repeat their stories and explain their issues time and again.

What are your views on the benefits or otherwise of having a single electronic record? Is there sufficient data in the system to deliver such a record?

On Sunday, international teams will begin to compete for the biggest prize in world football, but they will do so in a state that denies the rights of LGBT+ people, suppresses the rights of women and has demonstrated quite clearly that it has no regard for the lives or wellbeing of migrant workers. Only a few weeks ago, Qatar’s world cup ambassador branded being gay as “damage in the mind”.

Senior figures of the Scottish Football Association will be attending world cup events on the day the tournament kicks off. LGBT+ people, many of whom are passionate football fans, our allies in stands across the country, the tartan army, the Scottish Trades Union Congress and Zander Murray of Gala Fairydean Rovers, of whom I think we should all be immensely proud, have voiced concern and disapproval about this world cup and have called on the SFA to think again.

The SFA has said that it is

“supportive of all measures to improve human rights conditions in Qatar”,

but does the First Minister believe that members of our football governing body attending this world cup can send any other message than a validation of the human rights record of Qatar, and what message does she think that it sends to LGBT+ people, in particular, in Scotland?

I thank Bill Kidd for bringing the vital issue of mental health to the chamber for debate. I also thank SAMH and all the other organisations that support our mental health in Scotland. I take the opportunity to place on the record my thanks to SAMH, Co-op, Mind and Inspire for their hard work in producing the excellent “Together Through Tough Times” report.

I struggle to think of anything that is more important than the mental health and wellbeing of everyone who lives in Scotland. I also struggle to think of a more important duty that we carry as legislators in Parliament than the responsibility to speak up and support the most vulnerable people in our society.

In the aftermath of the pandemic, coupled with the pressures that people face as a result of the soaring cost of living, the importance of mental health awareness and the fight against stigma have never been more acutely in focus. That is why the report is so timely and important. I know that many people felt that sense of importance last night at the reception that was hosted in the Parliament.

The circumstances that have brought about that focus continue to bring about challenges, hardship and losses in communities. We have a unique opportunity to confront head on the issues that are associated with mental health and wellbeing in a way that we have never had before.

As I am sure all colleagues did, I recognised in the report much about communities in my life and region. I think of the amazing resilience of communities across West Scotland, some of which are in the lower quartiles of the index of multiple deprivation. I think, for example, of the power of bereavement groups in local churches, which have been run for many years and have done the really important informal work of supporting people when they lose a loved one.

I think of the work of the community support and check-in groups that I saw in my community throughout Covid, and the work of people who come together and check in on one another at difficult times.

I also think of the excellent work that football clubs, such as Greenock Morton FC and St Mirren FC—two teams that one does not often hear mentioned in a positive way in the same sentence—have done around supporting young men, in particular, in communities to speak out, have a sense of ownership of the place where they live and that they care about, and to talk about how they feel and what is going on in their lives. All that support is important, and the report highlighted those examples clearly.

It is clear that there is an opportunity now to really focus on some of the more informal structures and give them the support that they need. I am sure that the Government will want to try to seize the moment with partners and do what is needed.

We are told time and again that poor mental health and suicide are priority issues for the Government. We have to reflect that Scotland has high rates of suicide, and we know that many vulnerable children and young people are struggling and waiting a long time to access mental health services—indeed, some of the recommendations in the report focus particularly on access to child and adolescent mental health services.

We must ensure that work such as that which the report highlights is well supported, and that groups have the funding that they need to be able to thrive. I have mentioned the issue of support for third sector groups in the chamber a number of times. As we continue to go through the cost of living crisis, we need to see a really dedicated effort to support those groups.

In an excellent and very important piece of research, which SAMH published last year during the pandemic,

“people reported feeling like a burden and anxious about adding to the pressure of the health service by asking for help and support.”

It is clear that we need to move towards a system of reformed referrals and triage services, and to operate “No wrong door” approaches, which might be through local community groups rather than through services that are more formal. It could mean that referrals for mental health support come from a range of sources, and that pathways towards support and accessible and adaptable services would depend on what each of us, as an individual, needs. We want communities that are more resilient.

I believe that by focusing on what is outlined in the report and reforming how we go about delivering services, we can ensure that no one is rejected from support and that every referral is signposted to the right service, so that everyone has the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns raised by the chief constable and the Scottish Police Authority chair regarding the impact of the resource spending review on service delivery in Police Scotland. (S6O-01555)